Description

This book is the first broad history of the growing field of bioethics. Covering the period 1947-1987, it examines the origin and evolution of the debates over human experimentation, genetic engineering, organ transplantation, termination of life-sustaining treatment, and new reproductive technologies. It assesses the contributions of philosophy, theology, law and the social sciences to the expanding discourse of bioethics. Written by one of the field's founders, it is based on extensive archival research into resources that are difficult to obtain and on interviews with many leading figures. A very readable account of the development of bioethics, the book stresses the history of ideas but does not neglect the social and cultural context and the people involved.show more

Review quote

Jonsen's richly detailed narrative in a valuable vantage point for understanding and welcoming these dialogues. * Bulletin of the History of Medicine * ... the book rarely fails to be both informative and engaging. It surely must be read by anyone interested in the transformation of traditional medical ethics in the last half of this century into the wide-ranging, multidisciplinary enterprise of Bioethics. * Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy * An intensely interesting history that will provoke many critical and constructive responses... it is a singular success. * Medical Humanities Review * In The Birth of Bioethics Jonsen has written an in-depth review of bioethics, including a historical analysis of the field... This material should inform even sophisticated readers... Jonsen's depictions of the pioneers in bioethics whom he knew and worked with are vivid... Jonsen's unique insights, infused by the compassion he obviously feels, recommend this book strongly. * The New England Journal of Medicine * Bioethics, Albert Jonsen observes in the introduction to his important, highly personal, and readable book, did not begin with a bang. But what becomes very clear as one reads his recollections of the origins of the field, is that it did not begin with people prone to emit whimpers... Jonsen brings an elephantine memory and a deft pen to telling the story of what happened when the first theologians, philosophers, and physicians found themselves out on these ethical
frontiers of medicine without much in the way of intellectual tools to help them. * The Journal of the American Medical Association * From reviews of the Hardback:show more

Table of contents

PART I: BIOETHICAL BEGINNINGS: THE PEOPLE AND PLACES ; 1. Great Issues of Conscience: Medical Ethics before Bioethics ; 2. The Theologians: Rediscovering the Tradition ; 3. The Philosophers: Clarifying the Concepts ; 4. Commissioning Bioethics: The Government in Bioethics, 1974-1983 ; PART II: BIOETHICAL BEGINNINGS: THE PROBLEMS ; 5. Experiments Perilous: The Ethics of Research with Human Subjects ; 6. Splicing Life: Genetics and Ethics ; 7. The Miracle of Modern Medicine: The Ethics of Organ Transplantation and Artificial Organs ; 8. Who Should Live? Who Should Die? The Ethics of Death and Dying ; 9. O Brave New World! The Ethics of Human Reproduction ; PART III: DISCIPLINE, DISCOURSE AND ETHOS ; 10. Bioethics as a Discipline ; 11. Bioethics as a Discourse ; 12. Bioethics - American and Elsewhereshow more

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